Aereo lets you check your connection speed, which helps you choose which setting to use.

Aereo lets you check your connection speed, which helps you choose which setting to use.

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Aereo's image looks very good, though fast motion results in pixilation due to compression.

Aereo's image looks very good, though fast motion results in pixilation due to compression.

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Aereo update: A case of lowered expectations

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Last month, when Aereo launched in Houston, I reviewed the controversial streaming TV service after using it for a couple of weeks in its beta period. I liked it a lot, and considered it a good alternative for those wishing to drop cable TV but still have the benefits of being able to record local broadcast channels.

I’ve been using Aereo regularly since then, and while I still like it, I’m starting to be more aware of its shortcomings. Aereo is still very much a work in progress, but if you’re going to rely on it, you’ll have to lower some of your expectations.

To recap: Aereo works by capturing over-the-air broadcast signals from local TV stations. In the cities where it operates, Aereo sets up a bank of tiny, dime-sized antennas and assigns one to each of its subscribers. Broadcast content captured by the antennas are stored on Aereo’s servers, providing customers with a cloud-based DVR – you can pause, fast-forward and replay shows you’ve recorded, and you can pause and replay live TV.

Broadcasters don’t like Aereo because the New York-based startup doesn’t pay them for content. Instead, Aereo argues it’s renting out antennas, allowing subscribers who pay either $8 or $12 a month to watch the same free, over-the-air content they’d get if they purchased their own pair of rabbit ears.

But the toughest court Aereo faces is the marketplace. There’s a lot of promise in Aereo’s concept, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the execution is … a little rough.

Here’s why:

• In my initial review, I complained about pixilation in broadcasts that included fast action, such as sports. But I often see that in other programming as well. For example, on Oct. 1, I watched a recorded episode of CBS’ “CSI – Crime Scene Investigation.” Quick scene changes caused the image to break into pixilated blocks. It was watchable, but just barely. Oddly, we watched a second show immediately after that – ABC’s “Gray’s Anatomy” – which didn’t suffer from the problem at all.

• The general quality of the picture varies dramatically, and is often downright bad. Aereo lets you control what kind of stream you’re receiving based on the quality of the connection. You can set it to high, medium or low, and there’s an Auto setting that will adjust the video based on connection quality. I’ve got a 50-Mbps Comcast connection that’s very stable, so I usually keep Aereo set on high. But I’ll occasionally see buffering, and switching to Auto causes the picture quality to jump between fuzzy and decent. I’ve done speed tests while this is happening, and my connection appears to be good.

• We use Aereo primarily with a Roku 3 that I’m reviewing, and on that device Aereo’s fast-forward capabilities leave a lot to be desired. Generally, you can jump ahead in 30-second chunks to skip ads, but it’s easy to overshoot if the commercial block isn’t divisible by 30, or if you don’t begin the forwarding process as soon as commercials start. The screen goes black during the jump – I’d prefer to see a sped-up display of what you’re missing. On a touch-based device, you can move a slider to fast-forward, but it’s hard to be precise.

• Aereo typically starts programs late, though not by much, so I occasionally find I miss an intro. Fortunately, when you record a show, you can set it up so it stops past the time it’s scheduled to end, just in case.

For now, I consider these minor glitches that can be worked out over time – presuming Aereo isn’t killed off in the legal arena first. It’s worth paying $8 a month not to be bound to broadcasters’ schedules.

And I will still recommend Aereo to Houston cord cutters who want to check it out, particularly since the first 30 days are free. But if the quality of the service doesn’t improve visibly soon, that may change.